Walking the Wire
by kismetdarling
Summary: It was a simple mission Sakura was sent out on. Yet before she could even reach her destination, she comes across a man on a rampage. As she tries to subdue him, her exteammate comes to her aid. Now she has to join his team.
1. Subdue

The midsummer sun beat down on her as she dragged her feet down the endless stretch of dirt. The faint scuffle of her boots seemed almost deafening, resonating throughout the small clearing. She let out a tired huff, her breath breaking the eerie silence. A trickle of sweat ran down her forehead before she wiped it away. The back of her shirt was noticeably stuck to her back, shifting uncomfortably against her skin as she moved her arm. Tugging gently at the end of her shirt to loosen it from moisture's hold, Sakura couldn't help but grumble to herself.

The Land of Fire's summers were always relentless, and solo missions always made her feel a bit lonely while she traveled.

Casting aside her petty discomfort, she tried to focus on her surroundings. The village she was sent to was still a few miles away, but she was determined to trek there in one sitting. It was a rather unknown village on the border of Fire Country, so she reasoned that the silence should not be that surprising. She was out in the wilderness, where her main company would be birds and squirrels. She mainly saw trees in the forest on either side of her, not even the rushing of a river or the trickle of a stream to add to the ambiance. Considering everything in her relative location, she was in a rather peaceful area. When she reached the border, things would grow ever so slightly more hectic.

She dismissed her unease as paranoia, and she dutifully continued on.

She tucked an unruly, rose colored lock of hair under her hiate-e, the sweat soaked strands laying flat against her head. Her hair barely dusted her collar, since it had been freshly cut. Despite the mild annoyance it could be when it was too short to be restrained in a ponytail, Sakura never kept it past her shoulders. Konoha heat wouldn't allow for it to be too long; plus, her unspoken need for it to remain short.

Sakura had grown from the obsessed little girl she once was, and her hair was just another reminder of how she had changed. It was a symbol of the start of maturity.

Her medical pouch shifted against her skirt. She tightened it up, the containments of the pouch clacking against each other softly. The shuffling of her appearance grated on her nerves ever so slightly. Perhaps it was because she had grown accustomed to traveling with Naruto once again after his absence, but the quietness was unnerving to her.

Birds burst out of the wilderness to her left, and her hand instinctively went to her kunai holster. She quickly concealed her chakra by force of habit. She did not see the reason to immediately inspect the cause of the sudden interrupting. Birds were skittish animals; a snake could have merely struck at a rodent, causing the flock in the neighboring trees to flee. She stayed still, however, her hand not moving from its place on the holster, and her eyes scanned the brush.

Then she heard it.

A sickening crack met with a choked cry of anguish. Animals scampered away from the area just like the birds did. The earth rumbled, and a loud thud resonated through the air. Then the overwhelming silence resumed. She picked up on a rather massive chakra signature, and she was unsure as to how she had missed it before. She reasoned that maybe they had initially concealed it before deeming that they were alone. She pursed her lips, her curiosity getting the best of her as she calmly and quietly approached the edge of the pathway.

The scream had sounded rather close, so she did not plan on trekking too far into the forestry. It sounded as if there was no one left to aid as it was. She peeked into the wilderness, instinctively crouching as she entered the woods, aiming to remain hidden from whatever she was stumbling upon. Faintly, she heard ragged breaths. Testing her luck, she wandered closer to the noise. As she weaved around the shrubbery and trees, she saw the large figure that the explosive chakra signature belonged to, and she couldn't ignore the tremble of fear that rumbled to her core.

He had to be at least two heads taller than her, and his tangerine tresses stood out in all directions like a lion's mane. His shoulders heaved gently as he stood over the crumpled corpse of what appeared to be a hunter-nin, the trademark mask cracked and bloodied on the late figure's face. The corpse was not what unnerved her. It was the scaled, ruddy gray tones burned across his skin. A blade protruded from his forearm, the same darkened color as the splotches on half his body. He looked utterly mad as he remained in his place, a deranged smile on his face. Suddenly, he looked over in her direction, mismatched eyes locking onto her frame.

Sakura did not have time to analyze the tell tale signs of the curse mark, or wonder how he had finally sensed her. She had faced many formidable foes in her lifetime, but she knew that it was not the time or place to _really_ deal with the situation she had found herself in.

She backed away from the tree she had halfway crouched behind. If he was going to come after her, it would be best if she played on the defensive. He looked like he could tank several blows she landed on him, even if she used her chakra enhanced strength, Plus, she would have to risk getting close enough to hit him. She could not size up his speed from just a glimpse; despite his size, she could name several brawny ninja that could move at her speed.

As she continued to sum up the situation, bounding away from him but keeping her eyes locked onto his location, she heard a deep laugh. Then he charged at her.

In a flash, he had caught up with her, swinging his bladed arm at her. Sakura had barely enough time to react, leaping to the left to barely avoid his incoming assault. He was quick to retaliate. He slung his arm at her once again, and she moved to dodge. His arm stretched out further, chasing after her as she avoided him. Sakura swore to herself. She would have to keep a considerable distance between them to be utterly assured she could not be hit. In that moment, that did not seem possible.

Even so, Sakura was known to think fast.

Her hands moved on their own accord, and when his arm collided with what appeared to be her body, in a puff of smoke it was revealed to be a log.

Sakura was not far though. Her back was pressed against a tree as she pulled several senbon out of her bag.

"You can't hide," the deep, gravelly voice cooed. She heard his footsteps approach her location and before he could strike near her, she fled her hiding spot. She ducked under his incoming kick, jabbing her senbon into his knee. She hurriedly pulled herself upright, not bothering to see how the needles had damaged him; since the quiet grunt was enough to let her know she had at least inconvenienced him. She heard the quiet cling of senbon hitting the ground, and she shifted to an offensive stance. Before she could launch another senbon, she felt the air being knocked out of her lungs and a searing pain spread throughout her torso, her own senbon dropping to the ground.

It was his normal fist that had collided with her chest. Ignoring the biting ache in her system, she used the moment to her advantage. Sakura held onto his fist with one hand, while she swiped at his upper arm with her chakra scalpels.

She felt his arm go limp in her grip.

Her opponent's eyes narrowed as his arm became useless to him. His blade approached her head, and she swiftly dodged, tugging his limp arm towards the ground with enhanced strength. She managed to topple his balance, and he collided with the earth. She hurriedly dropped his limb, side stepped, and plummeted her fist towards his skull.

Her wrist was caught before she could land the hit.

Before she could retaliate, she felt her world spin and her chest hit the hard dirt. Air left her lungs for the second time, and when her vision had returned to her, she rolled over onto her back — just to see that her attacker had sluggishly gotten to his feet, bladed arm high above him ready to meet her skin. Sakura rolled out of the way as his blade lowered, pushing herself to her feet with labored breath. The ground had ruptured where she had once been, rock and dust settling at their feet.

He did not give her time to rest as he reached for her throat. She held her arm up to block his attack, aiming her other hand, that was equipped with chakra scalpels, for his thigh. He did not fall for it this time, sliding back to avoid his muscles from being filleted. His movements seemed to only be slightly deterred from her senbon previously stabbing his leg's pressure point.

Sakura gnawed on her lip as she waited for his next strike. The darkened parts of his skin flashed red as it spread across his body further.

She needed out of this fight as soon as possible, for her own good.

If she could render his transformed arm immobile, then she knew she would have a better chance, but she didn't know if the muscle could be severed normally when the curse mark was active.

It was not like she had many other options.

This time, she charged towards him, rearing her fist back. As expected, he dodged her incoming strike and tried to return one of his own. She grabbed his wrist and attempted to maul his upper arm with her scalpels once again, but he broke free from her grasp and swung the blade towards her. It connected with her shoulder as she tried to dive out of the way. Wincing, she delivered a kick to his gut and habitually brought her hand up to her injury.

He recovered too quickly for her to have time to heal herself, his hand stretching out to reach her. Seeing her opening, she ducked down and charged at him as his hand extended further. With enhanced strength, she landed a hit under his jaw. He stumbled backwards and his arm returned to its normal length. She jabbed an open palm at his solar plexus, forcing him back again.

However, he recovered at record speed, his hand clamping around her neck as she readied another attack. With a choked cry, she felt her feet come up off of the ground. Spots began to gather in the corner of her eyes. Her hands came up to scratch at his hand. He grinned madly as she had trouble focusing her sight on anything. She vaguely registered a hand coming up from behind the man's face, turning his gaze from Sakura.

"Jūgo. Stop it."

She vaguely registered the words as she was entirely focused on yanking the hand off of her throat. Suddenly, she was dropped to her feet, and air infiltrated her lungs once again. Unattractively heaving, she looked up at the brute she had been facing in time to see all the discoloration on his body turn a bright red, like lava, before going becoming tan like the other half of his skin. His eyes matched a bright orange, like his hair, instead of yellow with black sclera. Before she could address this man, she then realized who had spoke.

She turned to her side to see none other than the man who left her on a bench in the middle of the night all those years ago.

Uchiha Sasuke.

And it appeared he knew the man who she had been fighting with. She didn't even know why she was surprised; it was obvious this man, Jūgo, as he had been called, clearly had spent some time under Orochimaru to have that ability. It was more shocking that Sasuke actually had ties with someone still.

Sasuke made it clear to them that he did not want anyone around, after all.

"What happened?" He asked, but his tone made it sound more like a command than a question. His sharingan was blazing as he looked between her and Jūgo. She brought her hand up to her bloodied arm and proceeded to heal the injury there, briefly scanning herself for any smaller injuries she might not have felt from the adrenaline. Not bothering to look up, she muttered, "That's what I would like to know."

Jūgo seemed to have an answer for the both of them.

"I lost control while taking out that hunter-nin. She stumbled upon me while I was on a rampage," he said with his eyes cast downwards. His voice had lost it's raspy edge; he sounded a lot more quaint. He looked over at Sakura. "My bad. I'm sorry."

She felt a pang of sympathy for him. The dejected tone in his voice certainly caught her off guard, and he sounded genuinely upset with himself for attacking her. She wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily though; she did not know how trustworthy he was. She may have had bundles of compassion in her soul, but she also had to look out for herself. She gave him a weak smile. "Well, I'm not dead so."

She felt Sasuke's eyes land on her, but she did not look up to meet his gaze. She knew better than to let herself look into his greatest weapon. She heard a quiet scoff, and his hand came in contact with her chin, pulling her head up to face him properly. She stepped back, tugging herself out of his grip. He had deactivated his sharingan, but she still was not comfortable staring her rogue teammate in the face.

She briefly reasoned she should be glad that she finally found the elusive Sasuke Uchiha, and that she should use this opening to her advantage. However, it was well known throughout Konoha that Sasuke appeared to be a goner, even if Sakura and Naruto refused to believe that. He did just save her life, much to her chagrin, so maybe that would hold some merit to everyone back home.

"Why are you here?" He asked, breaking her train of thought. His eyes never left her frame, and she couldn't help but feel like he was scrutinizing her entire being. She bit back, "It's nothing of your concern."

"So are you going to fill us in on what's going on sometime soon, or are me and Karin supposed to just stand here?" A new voice quipped from behind Jūgo. The scuffle of footsteps became prevalent as two people approached the three of them. A white haired man had a rather familiar sword slung over his shoulders, bearing the weight as if it was nothing on his seemingly average frame. A red haired woman stood next to him, her hip cocked as she shifted her weight onto one leg. Her face was set in a sneer, and she appeared to be sizing Sakura up. Sasuke did not even spare them a glance. "Leave us be."

"Actually, I think I'll just leave you guys alone. I have places to be," Sakura hummed, stepping away from the entourage. Before she could get too far, a hand clamped around her upper arm. She stifled the aggravated groan that was building in her throat. Sasuke tugged her back into the group, and so he received an annoyed glare. He did not seem fazed in the slightest. "Jūgo's arm needs healing."

She turned to her previous attacker — his arm was still hanging limply by his side. She stepped forward, both her hands coming up to the muscle she had severed. She habitually gave her patient a smile as she mended the muscle. He looked at what she was doing rather curiously, and as the green glow of her chakra reflected onto his skin, the slight tensing of his shoulder let her know she was trying to move his arm already. She hummed quietly, "Please refrain from moving until I'm done."

She was very aware of all the eyes on her, but she did not find it pressuring (outside Sasuke's gaze, at least). The same male from before spoke up once again. "Healing the guy you just kicked the shit out of, huh? I bet that doesn't happen often. He did quite a number on you too though."

"It happens more than you'd think," she replied softly, recalling training with Naruto. If she wasn't too low on chakra after they got done, she would always heal him — she knew he wouldn't go to the hospital unless she made him.

"Of course it does. All you leaf-nin are softies," he chuckled. Sakura ignored him, and she dropped her hands to her sides. Focusing on Jūgo, she stated, "Try and move your arm now."

He experimentally lifted his arm, bending it at the elbow. He wiggled his fingers before relaxing his arm once again. Sakura took that as a sign her job was done. "It may still feel a little numb, like its asleep. That will go away in a few minutes. Similar to how your leg probably felt earlier."

"Thank you," Jūgo said softly, nodding at her. Sakura gave him a polite smile, and she turned to face Sasuke. Waving her hand in dismissal, she shut her eyes. "Now that that is done. I will be off."

"No, you're staying," The Uchiha retorted simply. Sakura's eyes opened once again. "And what makes you think I'll be doing that?"

"You have no other option."

"Want to bet?" Sakura tested incredulously. Ignoring the deepening glare she was receiving from the heir, she turned on her heels and walked away towards the site of her mission. She faintly registered Sasuke ordering his companions to do something, but she did not dwell on what he had told them. Before she could get too far, Sasuke flickered in front of her. His hand rest on the hilt of his sword, silently testing her to move around him. Sakura pushed down all of her building frustration; she could not afford an actual fight with him at the moment. Sighing, she retorted, "Sasuke, I'm loyal to Konoha. So unless you're coming back home, then I will not be working alongside you."

"You don't have a choice," he reiterated, and she noted his grip tightening on kusanagi's hilt. "There will be repercussions."

"What are you going to do, kill me?"

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Sasuke's hardened glare remained, as if punctuating her own words. She exhaled aggressively. It appeared she really did not have much of a choice. He spoke up once again. "You wouldn't want the dobe to pay for you."

That sentence was enough for her to know her fate was sealed.

Having a great sigh, she glared contemptuously at him. Shrugging her shoulders dejectedly, she muttered, "Like you said, I don't have a choice."

His hand slipped around her wrist, tugging her in the direction of the camp.

* * *

Thank you for reading this far. This idea came to mind and i hurriedly wrote it in one night so forgive me for any mistakes. updates will be inconsistent until further notice but i do intend to finish this rather self indulgent story.

Feedback is appreciated but not required

xox dorkroast


	2. Bittersweet

He led her by the wrist presumably to where Team Hebi's camp was. Sakura offered him neither resistance nor assistance as she was tugged along, the overgrown grass tickling her legs. His grip was not particularly tight, but it was firm enough to let her know she should not bother trying to break away and run. At that point, she had accepted what she had to do.

Sakura could only deny the overwhelming feelings he evoked in her for so long. She was known to wear her heart on her sleeve, which was not necessarily an admirable quality for a kunoichi, but it was wired into her very being. She took the silent walk to the camp as an opportunity to try and organize her feelings while her veil of nonchalance was still in place.

Of course, she was still in love with him. At least, she thought she was. Back home in Konoha, she could try and convince herself that she did not love him anymore. She could convince herself that she just wanted her old teammate back. Half of the time, it was Naruto ranting and raving about how he had to come home, and at first, how Sai would never take his place. It was easy to pretend like she did not hold him in such high regards when he was never around. Yet when she was alone, and he crossed her mind like he usually did, she could not deny the aching in her heart was something more than just missing a friend.

When she was in his presence, all those old feelings hit her at full force. Each moment was brief, up until now, to her chagrin, but each occurrence they had was never enough. Whether their paths crossed while on separate missions, and he flickered away before they could try and persuade him to come home or whether they were on an actual retrieval mission where they pleaded for him to see the reality, she felt the stinging flames of countless emotions setting her heart ablaze.

She wanted to punch him, kiss him, and never let him go all at once.

During moments like these, it was easier to hate him than it was to sink in sadness or burn up with love.

At the end of the day, he was not deserving of her love. He had knocked her out while she was crying and left her on a bench in the middle of the night. He had tried to kill Naruto. _He had tried to kill Naruto._ Sakura and Naruto both knew that he would have actually tried to carry it out, if he had not been interrupted — even if they both loathed to admit it. That itself was utterly unforgivable, but even then, they both could not give up on their former comrade.

He had sworn off all ties, disgraced their home by slashing his hitai-ate, and broken both of them down emotionally, but Sakura and Naruto would do anything they could to bring him back home. He had no problem trying to get rid of them, yet they could not manage to quit caring about him.

They had agreed long ago that he deserved to get his assed kicked, preferably by them, for all the trouble he had caused them, as childish as it sounded.

Sakura could not help but heave a sigh as she recalled all of this, earning a look from Sasuke. One of his eyebrows was raised ever so slightly, but other than that, his expression was neutral as it almost had always been. She said nothing, knowing full and well that he most likely was not actually concerned, merely a little curious. She tugged her arm out of his grip, and he did not grab for it again.

Her thoughts drifted to her emotions once again.

Sadness seemed to be the strongest emotion he caused in her. Memories of their genin days should have made her happy. In some ways, they did. Everytime someone were to mention The Great Naruto Bridge she could recall Team 7 climbing trees with their chakra, and the elation she felt in her core when she got the hang of it way before her more advanced teammates did. She could still feel the relief in her heart when they were all alive and mostly okay at the end of the fight on the bridge, even if the sheer terror of Momochi Zabuza came with it. All the times they ate Ichiraku after a mission could warm her heart in an instant, just like the times the three of them laid in the grass, making jokes and griping as they waited for Kakashi to show up. There were countless memories of their time as Team 7 that brought a smile to her face and caused her chest to swell with delight. But Team 7's bitter end made it so easy to cause her smile to drop and her heart to break.

It was all too bittersweet.

The picture of their team that sat by her bed had caused more tears than it had smiles — that thought alone broke her spirit.

The desperation she saw on Naruto's face as they searched for Sasuke — on the day that Sasuke claimed he would kill Naruto — had burned her lungs. It caused the lump to build in her throat just like it did when the blonde would be with her in her apartment and they solemnly looked through the small picture album from their genin days. Only half the album contained pictures of the entirety of Team 7. While the other half still held positive memories of shenanigans with her best friend, it was obvious that there should have been another person in the pictures.

Sasuke provoked a wide array of emotions in her, and she hated giving him that much power over her.

With a determined state of mind, she decided that during her forced stay with Team Hebi, she would not let him affect her that much. She owed that much to herself, and to Naruto, since she was going to do her damnedest to get Sasuke to come back.

She would not be useless to Konoha while being held against her own will. This would be her silver lining.

As she brought her thoughts to a close, she looked over at Sasuke, who had moved slightly in front of her to lead her. They were not sprinting, although his long strides were naturally quite brisk. They had been walking longer than she expected, so she was beginning to wonder if her initial assumption as to where they were going was correct or not. "Sasuke," she began, noting how he did not stop to acknowledge her, "you did not say where we are going."

There was an exaggerated pause as she waited for an answer. Although she had not formally asked him a question, she had expected him to tell him where they were headed. She opened her mouth to restate that, just to be cut off with a response.

"We're moving to a new location. The others left before us, so we will rendezvous with them at our new camp."

"We probably could have caught up with them earlier," she reasoned. She noted that was what he had ordered them to do when she had tried to leave, since they had not spoken since then to her knowledge. She was pretty positive that they had not wasted that much time earlier — she had fallen prey to his threats rather quickly.

It appeared he chose not to comment on that as the silence grew longer and longer.

She had been headed to a town on the north border of the Land of Fire. Given the direction they were headed, they seemed to be traveling somewhere near the Land of Sound. She frowned at that. With Orochimaru gone, she did not expect Sasuke to remain in Otogakure. Perhaps they were going to Takigakure or maybe further east? Considering how she was basically being held captive, she did not surmise that he would inform her of much.

She did plan to get as much information as she could out of him, but it would not be an easy feat, keeping in mind how tight lipped the Uchiha could be.

"Care to tell me why you decided to make me come along?" She asked, annoyance lacing her voice. He did not shift in the slightest at her question; there was no twitching of his lip or tightening of his muscles. He replied, voice monotone as it tended to be, "You could be of use."

"That's a first from you," she could not help but retort. She knew she was a capable kunoichi; she would not have studied under the Godaime Hokage, who was one of the Three Legendary Sannin, if she did not have potential. But Sasuke only ever knew the sakura blossom that wilted in the shadow of her teammates. He only knew the annoying little kunoichi who clung to his arm as if he was her lifeline. She had honed her abilities tremendously since then, but she would never expect Uchiha Sasuke to recognize that.

"I thought you wanted to have no ties, besides with Itachi, so why'd you make a team?" She snarled. Her pettiness may have been getting the better of her, but she needed answers. Being snarky to Sasuke was definitely not something she was used to, and it felt foreign falling off her tongue. She channeled her frustration into her words in order to prevent that cursed lump in her throat from building.

His shoulders tensed at her comment, and although she could not fully view his face, she could see that he had pursed his lips. He took a moment to respond, and Sakura patiently waited for her verbal lashing for her remark.

"They are solely here to help me achieve my goal," he said shortly, still not turning to face her. Sakura raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced by his reply. "Uh huh. But you would not accept me and Naruto's help."

"You two would only hold me back."

"But you want me here now."

"Only for your abilities."

Sakura fumed quietly; although she was glad that Sasuke could recognize her as a proficient medic-nin, she still could not wrap her head around the idea of Sasuke building his own team. He was not forced to join one, but instead, he made one himself. It contradicted everything they had been told when they had encountered him before.

She supposed that what he said could have been true. It would be rather wise to have assistance when pursuing a member of the akatsuki as well known as Uchiha Itachi. She did not know much about Team Hebi besides what Tsunade had relayed to her, so she could not properly analyze their usefulness. He needed Sakura though, so it was safe to surmise that he did not have a medic on board. She did fight with Jūgo, which had been somewhat of a struggle, but from what she had understood, he was not always that ruthless.

Even then, it still did not add up. Sasuke was able to calm Jūgo with one look. He did have the sharingan activated at that time, but it was rather difficult for her to believe that they did not have some sort of connection. She had not witnessed enough interaction between Sasuke and the other two members to judge their closeness. It appeared she would have plenty of time to do that while he required her skills.

The most confusing part was that Sasuke had always said that he would be the one to kill Itachi. She did not doubt in the slightest that he had always meant that. Why would he assemble a team for a job he intended to do on his own? He had always been an enigma, but he had certainly stumped her more than ever with his recent actions.

She briefly wondered if he would really try and stop her now. He had been rather incessant beforehand, but she knew he had to be contemplating how much he really needed her from the start. She slowed her pace, watching his back as she eased to a stop. He did not react in any way, so her eyes drifted away and she prepared to dart onto a tree branch and escape. As she pushed off the ground, a hand wrapped around her wrist again, throwing her balance off and jerking her into him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" She turned to face him just to see his eyes burning red. She quickly cast her gaze elsewhere, not wanting to fall prey to his kekkai genkai. His grip tightened on her, but she did not wince. He turned away, dragging her behind him. "We'll be there soon."

Sakura let herself be tugged along — judging from the bruising hold he had on her arm, she reasoned that she would not get to leave anytime soon. She considered shunshinning away, but that would use more chakra than desired, especially since she had used quite a bit during her fight with Jūgo.

If she did not make it to her mission site in roughly two days, then Tsunade would be notified. It was supposed to be a four days to a week long mission, but she was meant to arrive tonight. Giving herself two days would be a stretch, along with the week. Regardless, Konoha would discover her disappearance soon enough, and she had no doubt in her mind that Naruto would charge out looking for her as soon as he heard.

She only had to endure a few days with these nukenin. During this time, she would try and whittle down Sasuke's resolve and get him to come home with her and Naruto.

She tilted her chin up and looked up at the sky. The sun was no longer directly above them, instead it was falling west. It could only be the afternoon, so why would they be reaching the rendezvous point so soon when Sasuke said it was a camp? She decided to voice her questions. "Why are we setting up camp so early?"

Sasuke did not grace her with an answer. She glared at him as he kept his eyes forward, not acknowledging her comment in the slightest. She silently hoped that his other teammates were more vocal and not so tight lipped. She heaved a sigh and delicately tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp. When he did not budge, she had to stifle her grumbles of protest.

She distantly heard the rushing of water, and Sakura peered into the forestry around them to locate the source. They were trekking through rather dense forestry, speckled with various shrubbery. She could not spy any wildlife of importance, but she still analyzed the area in case she ended up back here later, if she managed to get away. She had only vaguely registered everything they passed prior; everything started to look the same after awhile, and nothing really stood out.

They slipped in between more trees before coming into a compact clearing next to a rather thin river — not necessarily a creek but it definitely was not as vast as a river. There were still plenty of trees surrounding the area between them and the riverbank, keeping them concealed from the view of most. The three people from earlier were strewn about. Jūgo was seated next to the treeline, tossing some remnants of food to some birds that had gathered around him. He looked over at the duo as they arrived, but he said nothing. The redheaded woman was seated in the center of the clearing and had seemed rather disinterested until she noticed their arrival, her eyes widening in a sickeningly familiar way when she looked at Sasuke, just for them to narrow when they landed on Sakura. The third party member sat across from the woman, leaning back with his weight on his hands. A mischievous grin was placed on his features, and it suited him in a way that rivaled how natural Naruto's grin looked. He was the first one to speak. "Took you long enough, Sasuke. And it looks like you got the spitfire to join us. How'd you do that?"

Sasuke did not answer his teammate as he pulled Sakura in front of him, letting go of her arm once he was behind her. She grumbled, "You don't have to throw me around like I'm an object." She looked over at the white haired man. "And he did it by force."

The man seemed to find her retort funny, tilting his head back as he laughed. "Yep, that's definitely our Sasuke."

She could not help the bitterness that burned in her chest as he said Sasuke was theirs; while she had never stopped to consider herself possessive, the idea of some other team genuinely claiming Sasuke hurt.

Lucky for her, she could not dwell on this bitterness for long since Sasuke began to order her around once more.

"Introduce yourself," he barked as he stepped to the side of her, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. She sent a hardened glare in his direction to reiterate how she did not want to be there before looking at Team Hebi. She nodded at the group. "I'm Haruno Sakura. To my understanding, I will be a medic on your team. I'm not sure how long I will be here, but I can only hope it will not be too long."

Her gaze returned to Sasuke, who was still staring her down. She assumed her introduction was at least somewhat satisfactory to his tastes; she did not enlighten them on her previous relationship with him since she was unsure of how much he had disclosed, and she kept anything she found unnecessary at that moment out. When he did not speak up or even look away, she focused back on his teammates. Each person had reacted differently to her introduction. Jūgo had turned his attention from the birds, giving her a rather soft look. The redhead seemed to be feigning disinterest. Her eyes remained narrowed and her lips formed a scowl. It was easy to tell she was not enthusiastic with the new addition to the entourage. The white haired man kept his stare on her like the others, but the twinkle in his eye unnerved her. It appeared to be amusement, but she was not entirely sure.

"Well since no one else is speaking, I guess I'll introduce myself," the man said, jabbing his thumb towards his chest. "I am Hozuki Suigetsu. It's about time something interesting happened around here."

Sakura did not say anything in response, merely nodding at him once again. She did not trust the party yet, within reason. They were all Orochimaru's underlings, which gave them a bad enough reputation, and they were also traveling alongside Sasuke, Orochimaru's murderer. To work with the man who killed your previous boss, no matter how crazy he may have been, said a lot about them to her.

"That's Karin," Suigetsu said and pointed at the redheaded woman. "And you already had to deal with Jūgo. Clearly, you already know Sasuke, and it would be wonderful if you told us how."

She glanced at Sasuke after that remark, and his hardened glare had turned to Suigetsu. She did not plan on getting on Sasuke's bad side, more than she already had, so did not spare any details to Suigetsu. She waved her hand dismissively. "There's nothing to it."

She turned away from them, stepping around Sasuke, who eyed her suspiciously. His hand caught her arm, halting her movements. She raised an eyebrow at his actions. He dropped his hand and asked, "Where are you going?"

She pointed over at Jūgo. "I was going to go sit over there and talk to him." She looked over at the larger male. "If that's okay with him."

Sasuke said nothing and did not grab for her once again. Taking that as confirmation that it was okay with him, she approached Jūgo. He watched her approach him, but he did not object to her company. She sat down next to him, keeping a fair distance between them. The birds flew away at her arrival, which was not surprising to her. Not wanting an awkward silence to build, she asked, "Did I do any other damage to you earlier that I need to heal?"

He rotated the arm she had disabled previously, as if he was testing its functionality. She watched him carefully, looking for any kind of hinderance. There seemed to be none, and he cracked his neck twice. He hummed, "My jaw is a bit sore, but I think it will be fine. My chest seems to be okay too."

"I would like to try and heal it anyway. It could still bruise tomorrow, and the pain from it could easily affect you in a fight. I will have to get in your personal space for that, however," Sakura explained. She knew her own strength, and when enhanced further with chakra, it could do some damage. She had some difficulty believing his jaw was only a bit sore. She had armed herself with chakra when she struck his solar plexus, but the way she had hit him was more to push him back rather than to inflict serious damage. He nodded in agreement. "That will be fine."

Sakura scooted closer to him, sitting up on her knees when she was right next to him — he was much taller than her, even while sitting. Her hands radiated chakra, a green glow surrounding them. She hovered her hands under his chin, focusing on the area. Jūgo shut his eyes while she worked, and within moments, she had retreated and the aura around her hands dissolved.

"Thank you," Jūgo said as she put some distance between them. "What about your injuries though?"

Sakura had not been too worried about her state earlier. She had already healed her arm, dry blood still clinging to her skin. She dusted it off but it left a faint red mark on her skin. She did not feel any internal damage from his hit, but she held a hand to her torso to heal any external damage she had yet to really feel — her adrenaline had faded long ago, but her mind had been swimming since Sasuke had dragged her into the woods. It was easy to ignore pain when she was thrown completely off her rhythm. Once she was certain the area was patched up, she moved her hand to her neck. She particularly did not want a hand shaped bruise on her neck. It only took a few seconds to mend, and she dropped her hand into her lap. She smiled at Jūgo, who had watched her the entire time she had healed herself, "I healed most everything earlier, but it is easy to ignore minor pains. It's not a good habit to fall into. Thank you for your concern." Testing her luck, she decided to ask him about their earlier encounter. "So, if I understand correctly, you don't intend to go into fits like that. What exactly happened?"

"The logistics aren't completely known to me. It's been like this all my life," he began gingerly. Sakura looked for any signs that he was being dishonest; he was not sweating or swallowing obsessively. He was not maintaining eye contact, but he had not been since she asked the question. He was not fidgeting in any way. He seemed to be rather truthful. "They did not explain much to me, but it has something to do with an enzyme. I wanted it cured, but that never happened."

Sakura made a mental note of that. The curse mark was based on an enzyme, so if Sasuke ever came back to the village, they could counteract his curse mark with that knowledge. She was able to deduce that Jūgo had been one of the first subjects, or it could have derived from someone in his family. Or even him, she reasoned, but she did not want to place an assumption that heavy so quickly. She tenderly spoke up, "It sounds to me like Orochimaru harmed you more than he helped. You know, Konoha isn't like that. If you wanted help now, then you could always come there."

Jūgo's eyes widened slightly at her statement. He smiled at her. "That would be nice, but I have to stick around here a bit longer."

Sakura did not push it more than that. It appeared Jūgo had his own purpose in joining Sasuke's manhunt. She did not want to pressure the admittedly unstable man, and she did not want Sasuke to silence her as she convinced his teammate to come to Konoha.

But maybe if she got Sasuke to come home, then Jūgo could get help too. She could not hope it would work the other way around — she felt as if Sasuke saw people as expendable.

She had always been told she was compassionate, and Jūgo, despite the fight they were into earlier, appeared to have a kind heart. It did not mean she trusted him wholeheartedly yet, but she held a sliver of hope for him in her heart.

"Do you know why we've already quit for the day?" She inquired, looking up at the sky. The sun had fallen a bit further, signaling that it was getting later in the afternoon. They still had a bit of daylight left regardless. Jūgo nodded, "We're going to go into a town close to here once dusk comes. We attract too much attention in towns during daylight, being rogue nin. Especially since were in Fire Country and Sasuke hails from Konoha, but you probably knew that."

Sakura did not comment on his last statement. She could tell there was no ill intent behind his words, but she did not want to let them know of their background. It was clear Sasuke did not want them to know of it either, since Team Hebi did not know of her. She was glad that Jūgo was filling her in, because Sasuke most likely would have kept her in the dark. She inquired, "Why are we stopping there in the first place?"

"To restock. Suigetsu and Karin have something they need to do there too," he explained. Sakura looked over at the other two members of Team Hebi. He was laughing loudly while she looked beyond pissed. She did not ask what they would be doing; she presumed she would be finding out soon enough.

She exhaled aggressively, falling back on the ground. The bright rays from the sun were concealed from her view as she was shielded by the canopy of leaves above her. She did not mind as she took a moment to rest. Tilting her head to the side, rosette strands slipping into her face as she looked towards her ex teammate. He was leaning against the trunk of a tree, blending into the background despite his demanding presence. He was staring back at her. She reasoned that he did not trust her not to try and bolt away.

She almost laughed as she looked away. A few years ago, she would have killed for his undivided attention. She would have revelled in how much he wanted her to stay with him. But now? She could not help but feel wary under his piercing gaze.

It was clear to her that being around him was truly bittersweet.

Thank you for reading! this was one of those chapters that dragged on and you had no idea when would be a good time to end it. I could have easily gone further with this but it's pretty evident that the second half of this chapter was solely filler so

I will be posting my update schedule as it is known to me on my profile! Check there for updates, esp if i have not updated within a week.

As always, feedback is appreciated but not required

xox dorkroast


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